Mom's Cranberry Sauce

Mom's Cranberry Sauce

1 bag fresh whole cranberries   (2 cups) 1-2 oranges peeled 2 apples, cut and seeds removed 1 cup sugar or more Mix in food processor with coarse blade until desired consistency is reached.  Store in refrigerator. **The only cranberry sauce worth eating.  I love this stuff on a sandwich about 9pm Thanksgiving night!

Pecan Wedges

Pecan Wedges

Crust:
1 C flour
1/3 C brown sugar
1/4 C pecans, toasted and chopped coarse
1 t salt
1/4 t baking powder
6 T unsalted butter, cut into pieces and chilled

Pecan Filling:
1/2 C brown sugar
1/3 C light corn syrup
4 T unsalted butter, melted
1 T dark rum (optional)
2 t vanilla
1/2 t salt
1 egg
2 C pecans, toasted and chopped coarse

Crust: Line a 9 inch square pan with foil, allowing extra foil to hang over allowing for ease in removing from pan.  Spray foil with pam. Place flour, sugar, pecans, salt and baing powder in food processor and pulse until resembles coarse cornmeal, about 5 pulses.  Add butter and pulse about 8 more times until mixture resembles course sand.  Pat mixture evenly into prepared pan and bake at 350 until crust is light brown and springs back when touched, about 20 minutes.
Filling: While crust bakes, whisk sugar, corn syrup, melted butter, rum, vanilla, and salt together.  Whisk in egg until incorporated.  Pour filling on top of hot crust and sprinkle pecans evenly over top.  Bake until top is brown 22-25 minutes. (Original recipe said bake until cracks start to form...I never saw any cracks.) Let cool to room temperature on wire rack, 1-2 hours.  Use foil sling to remove from baking pan and use sharp knife to cut into wedges (to feel more like a piece of pie) or bars.  Amazing on their own, but great served as a dessert with whipped cream.

**These were insane! If you like pecan pie, you'll love these.  I made these for our Thanksgiving (Wednesday night) because I was taking 2 pecan pies to our real Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday and just wanted to switch things up.  My Mom and I couldn't get enough!
**I am dying to know how they would taste different if you mixed the pecans in the filling instead of pressing them on top. Hmm, might try it next time just to see.

Pumpkin Pie Cake Crumble

Pumpkin Pie Cake Crumble



2 packages (18.25 ounces) plain yellow cake mix
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter or margarine, at room temperature
4 large eggs
2 cans (15 ounces each) pumpkin
1 can (5 ounces) evaporated milk
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 C butter, chilled
1 1/2 cup chopped pecans
Whipped cream for garnish

Spray a 9x13 with pam. Measure out 1 cup of the cake mix from the 1st cake mix and reserve for the topping.  Place the remaining cake mix (from the first box), the butter, and 1 egg in a large mixing bowl.  Blend with an electric mixer on low speed until well combined, 1 minute. Using your fingertips, press the batter over the bottom of the prepared pan so that it reaches the sides of the pan. Set the pan aside. For the filling, place the pumpkin, evaporated milk, 1 cup sugar, remaining 3 eggs, and cinnamon, blend on low speed until combined, 30 seconds. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat until the mixture lightens in color and texture, 1 to 2 minutes more.  Pour the filling over the crust in the pan, spreading to the sides of the pan with a rubber spatula. Set the pan aside.  For the topping, place the remaining 1/2 cup sugar, the  1/2 C chilled butter, and the reserved 1 C cake mix, plus 1 more Cup from 2nd box of cake mix,  in a food processor.  Pulse until just combined and crumbly. Stop the machine and pour in the pecans, pulse 2 or 3 more times to mix in pecans. Distribute the topping evenly over the filling mixture. Bake the cake at 350 until the center no longer jiggles when you shake the pan and the pecans on top have browned, 70 to 75 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and let cool slightly on a wire rack, 20 minutes. Serve warm or room temperature, but whipped cream is a must!

**If you are wondering why the wasted 2nd cake mix...it's because the crumble topping NEEDED to be doubled.  I've made it both ways and doubled it is way better! Promise.  You'll use the unused portion when you make it again in a few weeks.
**Hans thinks this name is hilarious and that we should add cobbler to the end of it, then it will hit every dessert avenue....except cookie.
**A huge hit for Thanksgiving...kids love it much more than pumpkin pie.

Creamed Corn

Creamed Corn

6 C frozen sweet white corn (from Costco)

1/2 C whipping cream

1 C milk (whole is best)

1 1/2 t salt

1/8 C sugar

pepper to taste

¼ c. melted butter
¼ c. flour

Mix corn, cream, milk, salt, sugar, pepper in pot over medium heat and bring to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes.  In a separate saucepan, over medium heat, melt butter, whisk in flour and cook for 1 minute.  Add to corn, mixing thoroughly.  Cook over medium heat until thickened.

**So when I went to Austin a few months ago, I sat next to a guy named Nick....a fellow foodie.  We talked food the entire flight, driving our fellow passengers crazy.  We were heading to the BBQ and smoked meat capital of the world....Nick's heaven, he's a smoker...of meats that is.  He was kind enough to share some family recipes with me and since then I've have been in touch with his darling wife talking food and running. Story continues....I was asking Breanna the other day what the biggest hit at the Thanksgiving table is at her house....creamed corn....her recipe was almost exactly the same as Nick's "sugar corn."  So I made a few adjustments...a little less cream than Nick's, a little more corn than Breanna's, and now it is a Magleby favorite....Grayson had four huge helpings on Thanksgiving!  Thanks Nick and Breanna!

**For Thanksgiving dinner, I made it earlier in the day and put it in a crock pot.  I put it on warm about an hour before we ate and it was perfect for the huge crowd.

Best Turkey Gravy

Best Turkey Gravy

1 Roasted Turkey                   
24 oz chicken broth
1 C water                      
1/3 C flour
1 T fresh herbs such as oregano, thyme or rosemary ( I rarely use any! The drippings are amazing without the herbs!)  
kosher salt
black pepper                   

Remove the turkey from the roasting pan and set aside to rest. Leave the drippings from the turkey in the pan and place the roasting pan over medium heat. Add the broth and water at the same time. Whisk to combine, scraping  the bottom of the pan until all of the bits have come loose. Cook for another 2 to 3 mins. In order to reduce the mixture slightly. Transfer the liquid to a fat separator and let sit for 5 minutes to allow fat to separate. Return 2/3 to 3/4 C of the fat to the roasting pan and place over meidium-high heat. Discard any remaining fat. Add the flour and whisk to combine. Cook, whisking continuously, until the mixture starts to thicken and become smooth, approximately 2 to 3 mins. Once this happens, gradually add the liquid back to the pan and whisk until smooth and you have reached your desired consistency, approximately 5 to 6 mins. Remember, your gravy should be slightly thin in the pan as it will thicken once you serve it. Add the herbs and whisk to combine. Season with salt and pepper.


Note: According to the Gravy's flavor, I've had to add more water to dilute the salt flavor (When I brine the turkey, sometimes I don't rinse it well enough and the salt is too strong.) Wonder flour is great to thicken the gravy after doing this.

Raspberry Pretzel Jello

Raspberry Pretzel Jello

Crust
2 Cups broken pretzels
1/2 Cup melted butter
3 T sugar
Mix and bake on cookie sheet for 5 minutes at 400 degrees.
Cool and place in 9x13 pan.

1st Layer
8oz cream cheese
1 Cup sugar
2 small cans crushed pineapple - drained
8oz cool whip ( I prefer 1 cup heavy cream, whipped)
Mix cream cheese, sugar and pineapple.  Fold in cool whip
and spread over pretzel crust.

2nd Layer
1 large raspberry jello
2 Cups boiling water
2 Cups frozen raspberries
Mix jello and water.  Add raspberries and wait until cool.  Pour
over cream cheese layer and chill until set.

I've used less butter, fat free cream cheese, fat free cool whip and
it still tastes great. But as usual, it tastes best with all the fat!

Yams & Apples

Yams & Apples
 
6 medium yams
3 or 4 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced (Granny Smith)
½ cup butter
3 T cornstarch
1 C sugar
1 t salt
2 C water (you could use pineapple juice or orange juice if desired, not me)
2 T fresh lemon juice
Parboil yams about 20 minutes. Cool, peel, and slice in layers in a buttered casserole (9 x 13 pan), alternating yam slices with apple slices.  Yam slices are a little thinner than ½ an inch.  Melt butter in small saucepan. Add cornstarch, sugar and salt.  Blend well.  Add water, cook and stir until sauce thickens.  Add lemon juice, then pour sauce over yams and apples.  Bake at 350 for one hour. 

Origanlly from the Lion House 

Pecan Pie

Perfect Pecan Pie

1 9” Pie crust                   
6 T butter cut into 1 “ pieces                  
1 C packed dark brown sugar
1/2 t salt                                               
3 eggs
3/4 C light corn syrup                         
1 T vanilla
3 C pecans toasted (chopped if you like...much easier to cut and serve with chopped pecans)

Heat oven to 375, place pie shell in oven, if not already warm.  Melt butter, mix in sugar. salt.  Beat in eggs, then corn syrup and vanilla.  Heat to 130 or until mixture is shiny and warm to the touch.  Remove from heat and stir in pecans.  Pour into warm pie crust.  Bake until center feels set yet soft, like gelatin, when gently pressed, 50-60 mins. ( I personally like it cooked until it's a little firmer than jello.) Transfer to pie rack, let cool completely, at least 4 hours.  Serve room temp with whipped cream or ice cream.


Monette’s Pie Crust

2 1/4 C flour
1 C butter flavored Crisco
½ t salt
Cut Crisco into flour and salt with a fork or pastry cutter.

1/3 C cold water (refrigerated -   super cold)

Sprinkle a tablespoon at a time over flour mixture and let sit for 5 minutes.  Mix with fork and work as little as possible. Roll out.  Makes one double crust pie.  Bake as directed.  For single pie crust make sure you use a fork to poke holes all over crust to allow air to escape so bubbles don’t form.

Note: I've only ever used a pastry cloth for my pie crusts...they work great, but if you don't have one, I've heard people using wax paper or parchment....whatever works.